A Guide to Being Just Friends(4)
“You don’t have to do that,” Everly said.
“I want to. Honestly, I’m a big fan. What would you like?”
They ordered a San Verde Supreme, a Citrus Chicken Cup, and a Mexi Cup to go. Hailey chatted with them about the neighborhood and what it was like to be on the radio. Everly didn’t say much at all but she was one of those people who made it obvious with eye contact and body language that she was listening.
“Thanks for the salads and welcome to San Verde. You’ll love it here,” Stacey said.
“Thanks for coming in,” Hailey said, watching them go with a mixture of hope and disappointment. It would have been great if they’d eaten in, enjoyed the shop. Maybe live-Tweeted or TikTok’d it or something. She really did need to get some music in here.
How had she thought that would go? That the tall DJ would take a bite and swear an oath to promo the hell out of Hailey’s shop? A girl could dream.
She texted Piper. Regardless of anything else, it was pretty cool to have a radio personality visit the store.
Piper
That’s awesome! Give it time. Wait until they try it. You’ll see.
Hailey had had enough of waiting for things to come to fruition. When she’d made the decision to leave L.A. and open up a shop of her own, she’d left behind her “wait and see” attitude. If she didn’t do it for herself, no one else was going to jump at the chance.
Hailey
I guess. I want more scones.
Piper
Don’t mask your feelings with food, Hails.
Hailey rolled her gaze. Piper had a degree in psychology and was working on her master’s degree so she could do counseling. She used Hailey, frequently, as a test subject.
Hailey
My feelings are: you’re a dork but I love you.
She stared at the three bubbles.
Piper
FYI according to Urban Dictionary, what you’re saying is
dork
(n) a whale penis
The blue whale has the biggest dork on earth
By anonymous, February 14, 2003
And burst out laughing.
Hailey
Point proven.
* * *
The following week, she saw just enough customers to make her feel like she wasn’t in a sinking ship but not enough to celebrate. She had a degree in business and marketing but there were few industries that changed as quickly. She’d taken two years of culinary school, working for food services trucks on movie sets while she’d saved for her own truck. She was good at what she did. She knew how to run a business, but the thing about knowing and doing was they were worlds apart. Especially in the age of social media.
For instance, she knew Facebook advertising was a good way to improve her visibility. In order to do something about that, however, she needed a bigger marketing budget. She fiddled around with the cheapest options, set them up, and then went to explore her website. It was lacking. From a glance, it was bright and appealing, but there was no substance.
There were ways to make it more interactive. She’d scoured other restaurant sites and loved the ease and flexibility of them. Order in, take out, preorder meals, preorder drinks for pickups. Those things were where she wanted to go but she had to be content with waiting until the money started rolling in. Or learn how to do it herself. There was always so much to learn, she felt like she’d not only slipped below the curve but given up and watched it drive away.
While she read through an online article about successful small businesses, her shop phone rang.
“By the Cup.”
“Hi. Is there any chance you do deliveries?”
Hailey glanced around her empty shop. Think fast, Hails. “Absolutely. There’s a small delivery fee depending on the distance.”
“Oh, that’s fine. We’ve got an afternoon meeting and I was wondering if I could order twenty salads.”
She wasn’t often thankful for an empty shop but she was now as she did a little sideways shuffle behind the counter. She didn’t even care that a couple of guys walked by with huge grins on their faces that said, yeah, we saw you.
“Sure, let me grab my pen and I’ll write down your orders.” She tried to keep her voice calm. Act like you’ve done it before.
As Hailey wrote down twenty salad orders, she fell into an easy groove of answering the questions the woman asked—yes they had organic lettuce, all dressings were homemade, there were two sizes.
“I’ll need about an hour,” Hailey said when she’d written them all down. That was if no one showed up.
“That’s perfect.” She gave the address and said to come through the back entrance of the building.
“See you soon,” Hailey said.
As soon as she hung up, nerves rippled through her system. Now more than ever, she wished she had some sort of ordering capabilities on her website or one of those apps that allowed customers to order ahead. It would allow her to schedule things so she wouldn’t have to worry about whether customers were going to come walking through the door while she was swamped, or, worse, show up while she ran across town.
“Work now, worry later,” she told herself, turning up the music a touch. It definitely added a nice vibe to the place. Twenty salads, delivery. It hadn’t occurred to her before the phone call. Living in a Skip the Dishes era—where a third party would bring your meal to your door—meant even if a company didn’t offer delivery, it wouldn’t impact their sales. But as a new company, she needed loyal customers before that could work for By the Cup.